BFRO: “Come Along With Us” For $300*

Cryptomundo reader Chris Noel, who enjoys pointing out typos posted on the blog that need corrections, has put together a travel commercial for the BFRO expeditions.

The short video, with no title or words on screen, is simply explained as “Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization–Public Expeditions. www.bfro.net” at the YouTube site.

You can view it below. But why just passively watch it? Why not dissect it?

I was wondering, how might a seasoned old professor of documentary film introduce this footage to his students, before showing it to them for a critical deconstruction?

Perhaps it would go something like this:

Now that you’ve picked up the quizzes from last class, which were on the topic of “Squatching,” the comedic documentary by Scott Herriott, we can get going today.

Good morning students. Those of you that just came in late at the back, please remember, I don’t tolerate snoring in this 8 am class. This is especially true when I turn out the lights for the feature I’ll be showing later, director Peter von Puttkamer’s classic “Sasquatch Odyssey.”

As you know, we’re in our cryptozoology segment of this documentary course, and I brought in a short treat for us to see and pull apart.

I have for you today a little visual film, perhaps presented by its producers as a mini-doc or a docudrama? Or is it a documentary-style ad? I want you to view and take a mediated reading of the film, as we have done since viewing “Nanook of the North.”

Remember, pull yourself away from the images and ask yourself – what is the underlying message, what am I being sold, and what concept is being placed in my mind.

Place yourself beyond this film, listen to the music with a critical ear, look at the visuals with a critical eye, and think about the subtle messages with a critical brain.

Ask yourself, why is this film, “Come Along With Us,” using Native American flute music? Into what mood are you being placed? Why the hollow tones of a “voice of God” narrator?

Why did the narrator slow down with his script when the whole idea of “every now and then…we catch sight of them” was read into the microphone?

Are there any facts behind such a seductive “now and then” narration and any proof of encounters on such trips?

What is the purpose of the subtle hints of seemingly promised items you are being shown? Are they things you are being promised you will see if you “come along”? Are the words about “locating their nests” and b-roll footage of tree branches leaning against each other really linked?

Separate the visuals from the words. How does your mind link the two? Are you being promised you will see something like that? Has anyone on any of these “public expeditions” – btw, occurring on public lands – seen any of the things you are hearing and seeing in this video? And do they have anything to do with Sasquatch?

Continue to separate the sounds from the reality of what might happen if you “come along with” them. Will you see or hear Bigfoot, as is hinted with the phone recordings and Sierra Sounds track that was laid down in the audio?

How does the film make you ask yourself, “Will I really see a glimpse of a Bigfoot?” Think about the technique used and ask, was the way the Patterson-Gimlin footage was shown due to copyright reasons or merely as a tease for “what does the rest of the body look like”?

What is the filmmaker saying to you about going with them and what would you find down that path?

Remember, in film viewed from the audience’s point of view, the mediated experience tells you much about what the filmmaker is and was thinking and is trying to assist you to think.

Pull away even more, as you near the end. What is this two-minute film trying to sell you for reportedly $300?* Why would you feel that you might get something more than a regular camping experience out of this? What has the film merged with random images to convince you of this? Pull yourself even further away from this film. What will you get for your money?

Can a mediated reading help you separate reality from propaganda, which, of course, is all that such films are?

Okay, enjoy this, take notes in the lowered lights, and we’ll talk about it. Then, in the totally darkened auditorium, we’ll go right into the longer feature, so you can get the entire theater experience, where you will be pulled into the film. Remember, please pick up your coffee cups after we see von Puttkamer’s film. – Grumpy but friendly old documentary film professor.

John Marshall, Daily Breeze sports writer based in Denver, snapped a photograph, above, of the BFRO’s Matt Moneymaker calling out a Bigfoot on their Oregon excursion in June 2006. How many Bigfoot do you think have been seen on any of these BFRO camping trips?

Now it appears no reporter will be allowed on the much-publicized forthcoming Michigan “expedition.”

Bigfoot Quest’s blogger Lisa A. Shiel has reported that “the Fox News Channel spoke to a journalist who had wanted to cover the upcoming Michigan ‘expedition’ organized by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO). The journalist said that Matt Moneymaker, head of the BFRO, had refused to allow him to attend the event. The journalist said he was told he couldn’t go because he’s not a real journalist.”

Huhh?

Update: Fox News journalist Griff Jenkins is reporting in his blog that the BFRO (one person) has changed the decision about him not going, and he will be on the camping trip. Interesting after the negative publicity about this a reversal was made.

*****Footnote*****

Fee and Registration Process, etc. [sic]
The fee to attend a BFRO expedition:
– $300 for one person
– $600 for two or more people in the same vehicle
Once an expedition is sold out, exceptions will only be made for those who can provide exceptional assistance for the expedition.BFRO Expeditions FAQ, BFRO website, 2007.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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